I'm blasting some music on my Iphone, working on some Hunter Chronicles stuff and just doing a whole bunch of stuff right now so I figured it was the perfect time for a blog post. I'm going to attempt to start updating this thing once a week, definitely twice a month at the most if I can.

So for those of you who don't follow me on twitter I very recently live tweeted watching the movie Paranormal Activity. It was a fun little experiment that amused a few people so I thing I am going to continue it down the road. Anyways the movie:

This may be the scariest movie I've ever watched in my life as when I was finished, I honestly couldn't get to sleep after. When I finally did I woke up groggy and felt sick. I actually felt sick for a few hours after watching the movie. They obviously looked into real hauntings and did plenty of research into the actual paranormal world in order to base the flick completely in reality. The other cool thing is the actors completely improvised as there was no set script. Not to mention for a movie with a budget of 15,000 dollars the visual effects were really, really well done and I still have no idea how they did most of them.

If you are a believer in the paranormal, this will mess with your head, if you are easily scared don't see it and if you just want a good scare, have fun. My only complaint is that the entire time the boyfriend Micah comes off as a bit of an ass.

Oh and remember what the budget was? Yeah....they made 7 million right off the bat when it was released nationally making it the most succesful movie ever from a mathematic standpoint. Making it's budget back by opening night and multiplying it by 10 fold. Thy rally were brilliant with the marketing behind it.

It gets my highest seal of approval.

In other news as of writing this blog I am 14 pages into volume 2, I have the first 6 mapped out and I'm really enjoying getting to know my own characters who are surprising me with their rich histories and back stories. I think people are really going to enjoy it. Just waiting patiently to hear from the possible publisher.

Why are more people not checking out The Variants? What is The Variants you ask? Well let me tell you:

The Variants is a web series about a group of people who work in a comic shop and the craziness that surrounds them. It's a fun series that feels like Clerks mixed with Felicia Days The Guild with plenty of comic book love thrown in.

The characters in the show are easily likable as Richard the store owner who does his best to stay upbeat and obsess over mariah carey. (Really Rich...what is with the obsession with mariah?) We also have Barry who is in my opinion the best character. He's the opinionated and strongest member of the cast who will tell anybody what they are reading sucks without even asking his opinion. Then there is the beautiful Keli who is the most well rounded character in the cast who has to put up with the boys and does hr best to be a hard worker at the shop. Of course we also have Vlad, the backroom guy who is aman of very few words, he's a highlight of any episode and makes me laugh pretty hard when he steals every scene he's in. Then we have Joe who seems to have a very big man crush on Kurt Russel, hit on anything female and just drive Barry crazy.

The Variants is the kind of show that any comic fan should be watching and I'll be going into it in more detail by the end of the year. Hopefully Rich and I can do the interview and get it on th site by the end of the year.

I will be honest with you readers, I only wore this costume for maybe 5 minutes of Halloween. That shirt is damn comfy though and without the facial hair I'm sure I could pull it off a little better. I make that eye patch look damn good. I was supposed to be Nick Fury but the whole not wearing my glasses turned out to be a crap idea. I also didn't wear the hat all night and had a nametag on the very comfy shirt. So I guess I became Ashley J Williams for a little while. I'm sure if I added a tie I could have even been a certain Simon Pegg character. My Halloween wasn't exactly fun either sadly, we were crazy busy at work.

Finally this column we end with my top 10 comics on my pull list. Now I will go into a little detail with each and I am certain that I will get some controversy with some of these so I am certainly ready for it. So let's begin!

#10 - The Incredible Hercules: If you are not reading Hercules you are insane and I do not wish to speak to you anymore. I'm kidding of course but you need to start picking it up right now. Amadeus and Herc are two of the best characters at marvel and the supporting cast in the book is awesome. Teaming Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente was a brilliant idea and the title just gets stronger every single issue.

#9 - New Avengers/Mighty Avengers - Yes I know, two different books. Shut your mouth...my list. Mighty Avengers has felt like the Kurt Busiek days since Slott took over and it just continues to get better. You have of the best avengers teams we've had in a long time, some classic one liners and a big reveal for Hank Pym last issue. Dan is writing the hell out of the book. New on the other hand is really a weird mix of supernatural and over all street level characters but Brian has been making it work. His Clint Barton has started to feel like Clint again and thanks to the issue right after Secret Invasion the team has been put through the ringer. Plus with Carol Danvers, Clint Barton and Bobbi Morse on the team it has plenty of classic avengers blood around.

#8 - Guardians of the galaxy/Nova - If you had told me before reading Conquest that I'd fall in love with cosmic marvel, I would have called you insane and told you to leave me alone. But thanks to DnA cosmic marvel has become one of the best things from the big two in years. I actually care about Richard Rider, Drax, Peter Quill and a cute little Russian dog named Cosmo. Both books do unique and truly shocking things that really do change the status quo as promised.

#7 - Deadpool - If you had told me when Cable/Deadpool ended that Wade would be selling out each issue of his new ongoing series to warrant two more and a movie, I may have asked what you were smoking. But honestly, Daniel Way, Vic, Fred Van Lente and everyone else that has got their hands on Deadpool since the first ongoing series launched should really be given a round of applause. He became vital to the big event, become a huge threat to Norman Osborn, had one of the coolest fights with Bullseye ever and even got to kiss the Black Widow. I honestly think this is the best the character has been since the Joe Kelly days and really hope that the third ongoing doesn't kill everything for the merc with a mouth.

#6 - Hack/Slash - The best horror comic on the stands easily. Cassie and Vlad are two of the coolest characters in comics and I honestly cannot say enough awesome stuff about the series. Tim is awesome and the artists he gets on the series are all strong and fit each new story. I really, really cannot say enough about it.

#5 - Green Lantern - Cosmic DC is just as strong as cosmic marvel and Green lantern is a big reason why. The War of Light while kind of shoehorning a few things in continuity doesn't feel forced. Adding new characters like Larfleeze, Saint Walker and Arkillo has added to an already great mythology which has fed right into blackest night.

#4 - The Darkness/The Anchor - Phil Hester is awesome and has reinvigorated a franchise that needed the good kick in the face in order to get the attention Jackie needed. He brought in new ideas and concepts that truly reinvigorated the character for new comic readers who may have got interested in him thanks to the video game. Adding a crazy new supporting cast and some real threats that we haven't seen for the character in a long time. The Anchor while only being two issues old has become another Hellboy/Goon which pulls you into a mystery with a unique character with a mysterious past and a great hook that you can't help but be pulled in by. Plus the artwork on both series is beautiful.

#3 - REBELS - Who would have thought that this book of all things would have been towards the top of my list. Honestly this is right up there with Green Lantern on the cosmic front. Vril Dox is a bastard but you can't help but read about he and his team and their adventures. There are plenty of funny moments as well as serious moments and each new cast member as well as the threats they face just add more and more depth to this amazing book.

#2 - Proof - A sasquatch working for a place that watches after mythical creatures is just a great concept for a series. Riley Rossmo is one of the best indie artist out there and Alex Grecian's scripts are awesome. I talk about the book crazy amounts already so just pick it up already!

#1 - The Unwritten - Mike Carey's new vertigo book finds itself at #1 because it's easily my favorite read every month. the building mystery of tom's past, the use of great literature and historical figures and the supporting cast are all reasons to continuously look forward to the book. I also commend Mike on the almost meta like commentary on the horror genre back in issue #3. The first trade I believe is coming out very soon.

Anyways, that's my top 13 I guess. (because I cheated, I know) but definitely all books I look forward to each month. (Actually I think it's 15 if you include all 3 deadpool books....damn)

That's it for this entry dear readers. Not sure what I'll talk about next week but Next week's Why I love comics is gaming related as I go into 2 comic related video games that you'll want to get your hands on if you haven't already.

See you in the funny books!

PS: Look forward to the Second Annual Why I love comic Awards the last week of December. Going to be fun!

Comments

First off. Yes I am insane and have the papers to prove it. Also that means I'm not reading Hercules...which makes everybody in Ohio insane (not really a stretch of the imagination there) because I know nobody reading this book or any other stores carrying the book. There is a close knit group of eight retailers in the area we are always in contact with...and our own store makes nine. None of these stores carry the title, no costumers have it on their pull file. Nobody ever asks for it.

Sad thing is I love Hercules...just can't get into this book...and I have tried.

Secondly...if you think Dan Slott's Mighty Avengers (which I admit started strong and faded and shows signs of improving) feels like Buseik's Avenger's I would suggest that you pull out the Buseik stuff and read it again. The Mighty Avengers doesn't even come close. That's kind of like comparing an apple to an onion.

In Slott's defense it's not his fault. Many writer's today are forced to enlongate their stories so what should have been a strong two issue story becomes an okay somewhat mediocore drawn out five or six part story....because everything has to be written to go into trade paperback friendly format. Slott is not the only writer who suffers because of this. Mike Grell who is an incredible writer can not contain my inrerest over on D.C's Warlord series for the exact same reason. Love Grell's past work. Love Warlord...but this new title really suffers because of this ridicoulous demand....only issue #1 stands out as a strong issue.

Just in case you haven't checked it out and want to read something that shows exactly how strong a writer Dan Slott can really be you should read his Thing series from a few years back. Unfornately I may have been the only person reading it. The book was cancelled at issue #6.

That is the SECOND time I got schooled this week. I must be getting senile in my old age. Frank got me earlier in the week when I mentioned the High Evolutinary first appeared in the FF (he didn't he appeared in Tales to Astonish-doh!)

As for Slott's run on the Thing....I got lazy. Should have checked. I thought it was longer than 6 issues...maybe seven but I would not have thought it was eight. I stand corrected. I have the series...It's really good stuff and suggest anybody who hasn't read to check it out.